Under the guidance of part-time goalie coach Francois Allair, goalies Seymon Varlamov and Jean-Sebastien Giguere took shots from defenseman Cory Sarich and forward Brad Malone, but that was it for the Avs, who kept everyone else at the team hotel. Even Roy stayed at the hotel. He will speak to reporters at 5:30 p.m., two hours before puck drop, and likely announce that Sarich and Malone are his healthy scratches. Could be wrong there, but you know Sarich is going to play Friday night at Calgary, his former team, and the 35-year-old has worked out periodic breaks with Roy.

The Avs didn’t skate before their Nov. 23 game at Los Angeles, because of the L.A. Clippers game that afternoon, and won 1-0 in overtime. They also didn’t skate in last weekend’s consecutive games against Minnesota, because the first one began at 4 p.m. MT in St. Paul, Minn., and the following day was a travel day as well as a game day in Denver. The Avs won 3-1 and 3-2 shootout, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Oilers skated this morning but their three call-ups from Oklahoma City of the American League didn’t get here in time because of airplane issues. Defenseman Martin Marincin will make his NHL debut tonight, and defenseman Corey Potter and center Anton Lander will also play against the Avs after traveling from OKCity.

Edmonton coach Dallas Eakins is scratching defenseman Jeff Petry, who has played a top-two role for the Oilers but struggled badly of late. Petry has played in all previous 29 games and his minus-10. Edmonton lost 6-2 at home to Phoenix on Tuesday, and Eakins thinks Petry needs to watch the game upstairs and regroup. The Oilers are just 3-9 at home and have lost their last two.

Some of other pregame notes: Oilers tough guy Luke Gazdic, 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds, has tangled with Avalanche enforcer Patrick Bordeleau (6-6, 225) three times in AHL games, and another bout might unfold. . . . The Avs are 17-0 when scoring first, 13-0 when leading after the first period and 16-0 when leading after two.

[1] Patrick Roy in the stands at Jobing.com Arena in Phoenix on Nov. 21 and he talked about how he never believed in morning skates: http://www.denverpost.com/avalanche/ci_24662876/avalanche-again-eschews-morning-skate-full-squad-edmonton